This cover from Sri Lanka features a joint issue with Egypt, both stamps celebrating World Heritage Sites: the
Sacred City of Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka and
Memphis and its Necropolis – the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur, in Egypt.
Anuradhapura was the first capital of Sri Lanka and a Buddhist spiritual centre. It was founded in the 4th century BCE. It was attacked by the Tamils in the 2nd century BCE and sacked by the Pandyas in the 9th century CE. The monuments were subsequently restored but the city was finally destroyed in 993 by the Chola emperor Rajaraja I and the capital was moved to Polonnaruwa. In the following centuries it was overgrown by jungle. Monuments that remain today include the Abhayagiri vihāra (pictured) and the Ruwanwelisaya stupa, as well as the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi, a tree that grew from a cutting from the Bodhi Tree under which Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment. It is inscribed as a World Heritage Site since 1982. The capital of the Old Kingdom of Egypt has some extraordinary funerary monuments, including rock tombs, ornate mastabas, temples and pyramids. In ancient times, the site was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World and is inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1979.
